Inequality Regimes: A Global History Syllabus & Reading List - Thomas Piketty NYU, Spring 2020

Inequality Regimes: A Global History

          Thomas Piketty
         NYU, Spring 2020
     Syllabus & Reading List
(check on line for updated version)

• Email : piketty@psemail.eu
• Teaching: Mondays 9.30am-12am, from March 23 to
  May 4 2020 (7 lectures), NYU, Maison Française
• Office Hours: Mondays 2pm-3.30pm

• “Inequality Regimes: A Global History” offers a global perspective
  on the history of inequality regimes.
• The first lectures will analyze the transition from ternary societies
  (based upon functional military-religious-economic social
  structure: warriors-priests-workers) to proprietarian societies
  (based upon a sharp demarcation between property rights and
  political rights), and the rise of modern slave and colonial societies
• The following lectures will study how proprietarian societies have
  evolved during the 20c into a variety of social-democratic,
  communist, post-communist and post-colonial societies.
• The last lecture will focus upon the joint evolution of inequality
  regimes and party systems in electoral democracies during the late
  20c and early 21c, stressing in particular the interaction between
  inequality dynamics and the structure of political cleavages and
  ideology (class-base vs identity-based).

• The course is organized in 7 lectures of 2,5 hours each

• To validate the course, students are required :
 (1) to attend and actively participate to all classes;
 (2) to take the exam (the exam will require a good working knowledge of
  the material covered in the lectures and in the compulsory * readings)

A quick roadmap of the lectures
• Lecture 1: Development, state formation & inequality in the long run:
  from ternary to proprietarian societies

• Lecture 2: Property rights & development, 18c-19c: European variants
  (France, Britain, Sweden)

• Lecture 3: Slave societies, abolitions & colonialism (Caribbean, US,
  Brasil, Africa)

• Lecture 4: Colonial societies, state formation and comparative
  development (India, China, Japan)

• Lecture 5: The Great Transformation of the 20th century: from
  proprietarian to social-democratic societies

• Lecture 6: Post-communist societies (Russia, China, Eastern Europe)
  and the rise of global capitalism

• Lecture 7: Social inequality and party systems in historical
  perspective: Europe, US, India

How to use the reading list

• The lecture slides contain many references to books (which themselves include
  more extensive bibliographies). Aim is to provide an introduction to the
  existing historical literature for students who plan to specialize in these areas.
  You are not expected to read everything!

• You should at least read the “compulsory readings” (denoted with a *,
  typically one-two readings per lecture), as well as a selection of books and
  articles based on your own tastes. But please read!

Reading list: general references
There is no formal textbook for this course, but I will largely follow the
  following book :
• T. Piketty, *Capital et idéologie, Seuil 2019
   *Capital and ideology, Harvard UP 2020
I also recommend the following general references in economic history:
• F. Braudel, Civilisation matérielle, économie et capitalisme, 15e-18e s.,
  1979 (3 vol.) (Civilisation and capitalism, 15th-18th c., 1981-1984)
• K. Pomeranz, The Great Divergence - China, Europe and the Making of
  the Modern World Economy, Princeton UP 2000 (Intro.-Chap.5-6)
• A. Maddison, The World Economy - A Millennial Perspective, OECD 2001
• P. Lindert, Growing Public - Social Spending and Economic Growth since
  the 18th Century, Oxford UP 2004
• J. Goody, The Theft of History, Cambridge UP 2006

Reading list: lecture by lecture
This reading list only includes the main references. Compulsory
 readings are denoted with *. More detailed references are provided
 in the lecture slides.

Lecture 1: Development, state formation & inequality in the long run:
  from ternary to proprietarian societies
• *Capital and ideology, intro. and chap.1-3
• World Inequality Report 2018 (summary) (full report)
• M. Arnoux, Le temps des laboureurs. Travail, ordre social et
  croissance en Europe (11e-14e siècle), Albin Michel 2012
• R. Blaufard, The Great Demarcation: The French Revolution and the
  Invention of Modern Property (Oxford UP 2014)

Lecture 2: Property rights & development, 18c-19c: European variants
(France, Britain, Sweden)
• *Capital and ideology, chap.4-5
• T. Piketty, G. Postel-Vinay, J.L. Rosenthal, Wealth Concentration in a
  Developing Economy: Paris and France, 1807-1994, AER 2006
• E. Bengtsson et al, Wealth Inequality in Sweden 1750-1900,
  Economic History Review 2017,
• *E. Bengtsson, The Swedish Sonderweg in Question:
  Democratization and Inequality in Comparative Perspective, c.
  1750–1920, Past and Present 2019

Lecture 3: Slave societies, abolitions & colonialism (Caribbean, US,
Brasil, Africa)
• *Capital and ideology, chap.6-7
• N. Draper, The Price of Emancipation: Slave-Ownership, Compensation
  and British Society at the End of Slavery, CUP 2010
• N. Barreyre, L’or et la liberté – Une histoire spatiale des Etats-Unis après la
  guerre de sécession, Ed. EHESS 2014 (Gold and freedom – The political
  economy of reconstruction, Univ. Virginia Press 2015)
• *D. Cogneau, Y. Dupraz, S. Mesplé-Somps, Fiscal Capacity and Dualism
  in Colonial States: The French Empire 1830-1962, WP 2018
• F. Cooper, Citizenship between Empire and Nation: Remaking France and
French Africa, 1945-1960, PUP 2014

Lecture 4: Colonial societies, state formation and comparative
development (India, China, Japan)
• *Capital and ideology, chap.8-9
• N. Dirks, Castes of Mind. Colonialism and the Making of Modern
  India, Princeton UP 2001
• S. Bayly, Caste, Society and Politics in India, Cambridge UP 1999
• N. Bharti, Wealth Inequality, Class and Caste in India, 1961-2012
  (WID.world 2018) (long version)
• K. Karaman, S. Pamuk, Ottoman State Finances in European
  Perspective, Journal of Economic History 2010
• M. Dincecco, The Rise of Effective States in Europe, JEH 2015

Lecture 5: The Great Transformation of the 20th century: from
proprietarian to social-democratic societies
• *Capital and ideology, chap.10-11
• K. Polanyi, The Great Transformation. The Political and Economic
  Origins of our Time, 1944
• T. Piketty, G. Zucman, Capital is Back: Wealth-Income Ratios in Rich
  Countries, 1700-2010, QJE 2014 (database)
• E. McGaughey, The Codetermination Bargains: History of German
  Corporate and Labour Law, Columbia Journal of European Law 2017
• C. Goldin, The Human Capital Century and American Leadership:
  Virtues of the Past, Journal of Economic History 2001

Lecture 6: Post-communist societies (Russia, China, Eastern Europe) and
the rise of global capitalism
• *Capital and ideology, chap.12-13
• F. Novokmet, T. Piketty, G. Zucman, From Soviets to Oligarchs: Inequality
  & Property in Russia 1905-2016, JOEI 2018 (WID.world WP)
• F. Novokmet, T. Piketty, L. Yang, G. Zucman, From Communism to
  Capitalism: Private vs Public Property and Inequality in China and Russia,
  AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2018 (WID.world WP)
• T. Piketty, L. Yang, G. Zucman, Capital Accumulation, Private Property
  and Rising Inequality in China, 1978-2015, AER 2019 (WID.world WP)
• F. Alvaredo, L. Assouad, T. Piketty, Measuring Inequality in the Middle
  East, 1990-2016: the World's Most Unequal Region?, RIW 2019
  (WID.world WP)

Lecture 7: Social inequality and party systems in historical perspective:
Europe, US, India
• *Capital and ideology, chap.14-17
• T. Piketty, Brahmin Left vs Merchant Right: Rising Inequality and the
  Changing Structure of Political Conflict. Evidence from France, Britain and
  the US 1948-2017, WID.world WP, 2018
• A. Gethin, C. Martinez-Tolenado, T. Piketty, Political Cleavages & Inequality.
  Evidence from Electoral Democracies 1950-2018, WID.world, 2019
• A. Banerjee, A. Gethin, T. Piketty, Growing Cleavages in India? Evidence
  from the Changing Structure of Electorates 1962-2014, Economic and
  Political Weekly, 2019 (WID.world WP)